Event Detail

Thursday, November 14, 2013

Emerging Trends in Corporate Social Responsibility Data and Disclosure: Opportunities and Challenges. Frontline with Faculty

After many years of spotty and anecdotal Corporate Social
Responsibility (CSR) reporting by corporations, we are currently on
the verge of seeing systematic disclosure of corporate social and
environmental data mandated and integrated into financial
reporting. Why these developments are at this point virtually
inevitable and what their potential for fundamentally changing the
way we think about the theory of the corporation and the purpose
and practice of investment are the subjects of this talk. The
history of CSR reporting will be briefly reviewed, the reasons
driving mandated, integrated CSR reporting examined, and the
implications of these developments for corporate management and
investment practice explored. Steven Lydenberg is Founding Director of the Initiative for
Responsible Investment at the Hauser Institute for Civil Society at
Harvard University. He has been active in responsible investment
research since 1975. Steve was a co-founder of KLD Research &
Analytics, Inc. and served as its research director from 1990 to
2001. From 1987 to 1989, he was an associate at Trillium Asset
Management. For 12 years starting in 1975, he worked with the
Council on Economic Priorities, ultimately as director of corporate
accountability research. He is author of the award-winning paper
"Reason, Rationality and Fiduciary Duty", the report "On
Materiality and Sustainability: The Value of Disclosure in the
Capital Markets", and co-author of the recently published book,
Dilemmas in Socially Responsible Investment (Greenleaf Publishing).
Steve holds a B.A. in English from Columbia College and an M.F.A.
in theater arts from Cornell University. He holds the Chartered
Financial Analyst designation and is a member of the Boston
Security Analysts Society.